Controversial Romanian media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vantu has been arrested on suspicion of aiding a man convicted over the collapse of an investment scheme, prosecutors have said.

Vantu, who owns the Realitatea-Catavencu media group which includes three television channels and several weekly newspapers, is suspected of having transferred large sums of money to Nicolae Popa, who fled Romania in 2000 shortly after the collapse of an investment fund he was running.

About 300,000 people lost their lifetime savings following the failure of the scheme.

Sorin Ovidiu Vantu told reporters his detention on Thursday was politically motivated, claiming President Traian Basescu had a hand in it.

Realitatea TV, a news channel which Vantu owns, has been very critical of the government and Basescu in its coverage.

On 13 September 2004, two announcements appeared on the front page of Romania Libera, a prestigious daily that was, however, steadily losing readers. In the frst announcement, the editorial staff accused Klaus Overbeck, the representative of the German media conglomerate WAZ, of interfering with the editorial policy of the newspaper. In the second press release, the journalists’ union at Romania libera announced that it had asked the police in Essen, Germany, the headquarters of WAZ, for a permit to demonstrate in front of WAZ. The director of Romania libera, Bacanu, declared that WAZ proposed quadrupling the price of the daily from 5,000
lei to 20,000 lei and that they suggested changing the nature of the articles published to make the newspaper more entertaining and relaxing for readers. In their statement, the journalists claimed that WAZ reproached them for publishing too many articles that were critical of the powers-that-be. They insinuated that the representative of WAZ in Bucharest, Klaus Overbeck, ‘from the beginning [wished] to distance the paper from the political arena, suggesting that large, positive pictures be published and that as many fashionable items be introduced in the pages of the paper as possible’ (Romania Libera 2004). The meeting between Bacanu and
Bodo Hombach, the representative of WAZ in Bucharest, took place in May 2004 and, according to journalists loyal to Bacanu, the owners:
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BUCHAREST, Romania -- Former Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Thursday (October 21st) criticised the publication of private telephone conversations between journalists and media tycoon Sorin Ovdiu Vantu, who was recently charged over suspected links to a person convicted of fraud. The recorded transcripts were leaked and published in the local media earlier this week. Prosecutors explained they were made to "illustrate the character" of Vantu. Tariceanu, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2008 and is currently in opposition, compared the Romanian justice system to "Big Brother". Vantu, who owns the media group Realitatea-Catavencu, is suspected of transferring huge sums to the bank accounts of Nicolae Popa, a fugitive who fled the country in 2006 after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for organising a pyramid scheme. (AP, Hotnews.ro, Ziare, Gandul, Cotidianul, Adevarul - 21/10/10)